This story is from August 3, 2022

I was offered Rs 25 crore for my Rajya Sabha vote, says Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha

Minister of state for home guards and soldiers' welfare Rajendra Gudha on Tuesday claimed that he was offered Rs 25 crore to vote for a particular candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
I was offered Rs 25 crore for my Rajya Sabha vote, says Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha
Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha
JAIPUR: Minister of state for home guards and soldiers' welfare Rajendra Gudha on Tuesday claimed that he was offered Rs 25 crore to vote for a particular candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
Gudha, who switched from BSP to Congress in 2019, claimed that he was similarly offered Rs 60 crore during the rebellion against CM Ashok Gehlot in 2020.
The minister said he spurned both offers but did not mention any person or party while making these allegations. Gudha is said to be unhappy with the Congress after he was given just a junior minister's rank with unimportant portfolios.
The charges were made by the minister while addressing an event at a private school in Jhunjhunu on Monday. In a video that surfaced Tuesday, he made these allegations in reply to a question from a student. "I had an offer of Rs 25 crore to vote for a particular candidate," he said, adding that he spoke to his wife and she told him that they would rather have "goodwill".
He also referred to the rebellion against the Gehlot government by the then deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
"I would also like to tell you that when the political crisis was going on, I had an offer of Rs 60 crore. I talked to my family. My wife, son and daughter said that they want goodwill and not money," he said.
"When those who are with you think like that, everything will be fine," he told a schoolgirl.
Gudha is one of the six MLAs who won the 2018 assembly elections as BSP candidates and joined the Congress in 2019. They remained in the Gehlot camp when Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs revolted against his leadership in July 2020.

Gudha was made a minister of state, handling the department for the welfare of ex-servicemen, during the cabinet expansion in November 2021.
Gehlot has repeatedly accused the BJP of trying to destabilise his government by offering crores of rupees to MLAs to change sides.
In the recent Rajya Sabha elections held for four seats in June, the BJP had supported independent candidate and media baron Subhash Chandra along with their official candidate Ghanshyam Tiwari, forcing a contest.
Chandra was defeated. Three Congress nominees and a BJP candidate won the RS elections from the state.
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